Balanced Assessment of the Contribution of Away Days - Assignment Example

Balanced Assessment of the Contribution of Away Days Away Days People/human resource is the most vital resource that an organization possesses. Over the years, experience has shown that people who are brought up in a society which appreciates their diverse needs and talents in a proper manner would easily achieve various set goals (Nagle 2006). In a business set up, employees of an organization always have diverse needs that ought to be addressed. Various strategies that would enhance employees’ performance need to be put up in order to enhance their performance. In situations where certain business problems need special attention, away-days could be used to solve such problems. Away days refer to the special kind of days that are set aside for socialization, bonding among other core targets (Smith 2007; Stark 2007; Macionis 2006). This has mainly been as a result of poor planning and inadequate analysis of the actual utilization of the days. Any attempt by the top level management to associate the event with the needs of the business organization is sometimes met with a great deal of resentment and discord from the employees. In an Information Technology department for instance, away days could play a crucial role in enhancing the employee and management efforts to achieve the organizational goals. According to Goldhagen (1996), most Information Technology (IT) employees, together with other groups of employees, have widely been known to lack the social skills needed to relate better with clients. Away days need to be used in enhancing team work and group development. There should be a well laid mechanism to ensure that the group gets to know one another better (Merianne, Sheila, Jeffrey 2003). The spirit of team work needs to be developed. Employees need to appreciate their differences and plan on the best way through which all employees’ strengths could fully be exploited to the benefit of the organization. It is fundamental that the members of the organization, while on away days, get to know and appreciate the various needs and challenges that they face (Merton, 1957, p. 106 -120). In addition to team development, problem solving and addressing of the various needs of the employees could be done on these days. The activities of the away-days should never bring the real business mood. Instead, this opportunity should be used for addressing the various business challenges. In an IT environment, it is possible for the employees to enhance other skills that could be shared. A software programmer in an IT department could as well be a guidance and counseling expert (Macionis 2006). Through sharing and listening to the various needs of one another these days could be used to address challenges and offer possible solutions. In any organization, it is common to have employees who have more experience at work than others. Such high skilled and experienced members in an organization could be having much understanding on the needs of the company compared to others who may even be in higher levels of management (Macionis 2006). In an Information Technology department for instance, such employees could understand better the recruitment strategies which the department ought to employ in order to get better and more accomplished and experienced employees. This opportunity could thus be used to suggest such needs to the recruiting body in the organization. A business group would always have people from different backgrounds with very dynamic ways of living, behaviors and modalities of working. If not well integrated, the diversities would work against the needs and aspirations of the organization (Kimble et al. 2000). Discussion groups and open forums could be used to identify these differences and where possible various team roles assigned to the members of the departments based on the skills, talents, aspirations and gender of the team members. It is crucial to understand one another’s background and culture and the reasons for certain members behaving in the way they do (Kimble et al. 2000). Specialization and alignment of the roles and responsibilities need to be done in line with the overall vision, mission and goals of the organization. The importance for all the system developers to understand the need for situational leadership in the development process needs to be stressed during the away days. Top management needs to use the opportunity to explain to the members what the core values of the business are. It is always crucial that members of the organization have a deeper understanding of the business operations, history, ownership, clients’ base, suppliers and future goals of the business and the way in which the goals are intended to be achieved. This would also ensure that they give more emphasis on achieving the various skills necessary to be more productive. The management also needs to let the organization’s members know the possible avenues for growth in their careers in the organization. The modalities of getting promotions and other benefits and remuneration within the organization could also be explained during this forum. This is vital in encouraging the spirit of team work, collaboration and openness. Instead of spending a great deal of time during the away days in gossip and unwarranted discussions, members could seize the opportunity by bonding with the top management and requesting for training opportunities (Goldhagen 1996). They could argue on the basis of the dire need for them being trained and being imparted skills that would enhance their performance at the work place. Furthermore, the opportunity could be used by the management for collection of insights on how best some activities need to be carried out, suggestions on possibilities of unexploited opportunities and how to deal with the ever increasing competition in the business market (Ferrell, Nessa 2006, p. 35). Funds invested to the away days activities should always be realistic and within the means of the organization (Blanchard 2005, p. 7). The top management needs to fully ensure that the money they spend on the activities is wisely invested and all stakeholders made aware of the same. The change to be realized from an away day activities also needs to be fully communicated to all the stakeholders so as to prevent suspicion of misappropriation of funds. If a particular department wants to undertake an away day, then the day could be utilized by handing over relevant information relating to planning and managing of the organization to the new management. The management may also spend the day’s communication to the new leadership in the department on their future plans. Ideas and discussions on developing the better the business and systems to streamline the organization could also be shared. This could be done by involving the business owners and where possible engage both the existing and potential customers and other interest groups of the business. Additionally, the management could use this opportunity to welcome expertise from other organizations to give their personal experiences on how they dealt with various challenges in their areas of specialization (Biddle 1986, pp. 67-92). The platform could act as a motivational strategy to give the team more determination in addressing more business challenges. An Information technology department that is facing challenges in using certain softwares could welcome an expert from open source softwares (Alexandria1900). The IT expert would then address the importance of dealing with open source softwares that are much easier to customize and which are relatively cheap and can at times be acquired for free. The moment could as well be used to raise staff awareness on governance issues by delivering sessions covering the various policies that pertain to the department’s operations. The management could introduce a new team structure to nurture a sense of unity and insist on the need to closely work with the human resource management and other departments to enhance productivity and welfare of the members. It is also crucial that the away day program includes facilitated group discussions and various team building activities. A good perspective which needs to be addressed is through ensuring that the event determines and demonstrates how team objectives contribute to the successful delivery of the services of the Information Technology department. In this regard, the team would be in a position to ensure that all the challenges that are faced from other organizational departments are addressed. One way in which other department’s needs could be met is through discussion of their actual needs, their perceptions of the IT department and how best to strategically place the department within the service of the entire organization (Alexandria 1900). In conclusion, it is worth noting that even though the past experiences have portrayed the concept of away days as not being productive, the situation can still be changed. Through clear analysis, research study and involvement of all the stakeholders, it is possible to ensure that future away-days that organizations involve in bring more benefits both to the employees and the other stakeholders of the organization in the best efficient and most cost effective manner possible. References Alexandria, V 1900, The twisted dream, ‘Time Life’, 1990. Biddle, BJ 1986, ‘Recent Developments in Role Theory’, Annual Review of Sociology 12: 67-92. .  Blanchard, K 2005, ‘Go Team! Take your team to the Next Level.’ Berret-Koehler publishing Inc. SanFrancisco, CA. pp.7. Ferrell, B & Nessa, C 2006, Textbook of palliative nursing (2 ed.), Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0195175492, pp.35 Goldhagen, DJ 1996, Hitler’s willing executioners: Ordinary Germans and the holocaust, Vintage Books, New York. Kimble et al. 2000, Virtual teams through communities of practice: ‘Department of Management Science Research Paper Series’, University of Strathclyde, Strathclyde, UK. Macionis, JJ 2006, Eight edition society the basics. Person Prentice Hall. New Jersey. Main Frame, 2002, Strategies for generating social norms news. Merianne, L, Sheila, C & Jeffrey, L 2003, Retreats that work: ‘Everything You Need to Know About Planning and Leading Great Offsites’, Expanded Edition, ISBN 0-7879-8275-X. Merton, RK 1957, ‘The Role Set Problems in Sociological Theory’, British journal of sociology 8: pp. 106-20. .  Nagle, BD, 2006, The ancient world" a social and cultural history, Sixth Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Smith, Eliot (2007). Social psychology, 3rd ed, Psychology Press,. New York. .  Stark, Rodney (2007). Sociology, Tenth Edition. Baylor University, Thomson Wadsworth, California.  Read More